I recently swapped some technical info with Bernie Beeforth and received
details for Piccolo pipes, thank you Bernie. Bob Minney had told me, years
ago, that making Piccolos to the traditional drawings is anything but easy,
for the amateur builder. There are three pieces of wood, all with critical
angles and grain directions, in the base; the chisel-shaped centrepiece being
particularly difficult. It took me all morning to make just one base and
it would have been impossible for me to make another 13 all the same, so
I slept on the matter. My modified design uses just two pieces of wood,
eliminating the awkward part.

Painless Piccolo Pipes
Start with a block of nice wood, 2" x 1 7/8" x 15 /16" thick. Drill
the 5/8" hole with a Fostner bit (flat bottom). Mark out the two parts,
then with just four cuts, (starting with the small off-cuts) you will have
made the two blocks, with their grains running in the correct directions.
Use these as patterns to mark out the blocks for the remaining pipes.
The wood remaining at the bottom of the hole should be cut away. Make a simple
jig to hold the bases upright then drill the air inlet holes. Use a sharp
chisel to form the windway, but leave the 2mm at the end flat. This
is carefully sanded to the end with a small sand stick, (much easier than
trying to chisel all the way). A piece of 1/ 32" ply is used to form the
top of the air slit, and the same material is used for the mouth upper lip.
A cardboard shim sets the width and breadth of the air slit.

Tubes for piccolos are normally made from brass but I find, to my ear, that
rolled paper or plastic ones give an identical sound. A big advantage with
rolled paper is that you can make them with a gradual increase in their
diameters, not just the three sizes normally found. Finding a suitable
paper can be a bit tricky, but I have had total success using shiny brochure
type of paper. Use watered-down PVA. glue, apply with a brush and work
quickly, rolling about 5 turns around a suitable mandrel. All the different
sizes can be fitted to the same size base hole, just by wrapping an extra
strip of paper around the tube bases. The stoppers traditionally have
threaded rods that allow the acorn to adjust the tuning, another unnecessary
complication, so I chose to use simple stoppers with just a "decorative"
acorn top. A simple wooden plug with a strip of chamois leather wrapped
around is suitable. I always use a bamboo skewer for the shaft,
the end should protrnde about half an inch above the top of the tube. With
the tube and stopper assembly glued in place, the base parts can be held
together and adjusted while you blow the pipe. When you have a good sound
glue the base and windway parts on. Glue the upper lip on, preferably
making the final adjustment to this on the organ wind supply. These
pipes were made for a small street organ and sound an octave above the
melody pipes.

DimensionsClick to see drawing
I will just give the dimensions for the top and bottom D:
Top D internal diameter=3/8". Dimension 'A'=1 3/8", Dimension 'B'=2
1/2".
Intermediate sizes just graduate up to:
Bottom D internal diameter=9/16. Dimension 'A'=2 1/2", Dimension 'B'=4".

My first set of 13 gave a very nicely balanced sound without any problem,
in fact these pipes just seemed to be waiting to burst into life. They seem
to work on any pressure just getting louder with more air. So if our
old friend Bob Minney reads this, he could decide,. that he may, after all,
make another set of Piccolos and I am sure he could give us all a few practical
tips on organ building!